20060419

Schlitz, once a giant among brewers, is trying to recapture some of its past by reviving some of its past.

"The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous," as its marketing tagline went, is going the reto route to reestablish itself, dredging up images from its 1950s sales campaigns to grab consumer attention as well as reinstituiting its gilded bottle that carried the beer in those days.

Schlitz, which has been in business for 157 years, has been hurt in its price category by rival Annheuser-Busch price reductions.

Says Advertising Age magazine, "Distributors say renewed marketing efforts are sorely needed for much of the low-priced portfolio of Schlitz's marketer, San Antonio-based Pabst Brewing Co., which has suffered disproportionately from price cuts instituted by A-B's Natural Light and Busch that rendered them cheaper than Schlitz and Pabst Blue Ribbon."

Schlitz ranked as high as No. 3 among domestic brewers before, as Advertising Age puts it, "its profile dramatically faded under a succession of owners that emphasized other brands before it."

The Schlitz brewery in Milwaukee closed in the 1990s. The beer then was brewed in Milwaukee and elsewhere under contracts.

20060416

Global sales of beer may be experiencing a downtrend, but brewers' quest for recognition isn't. The 2006 Brewers Association's World Beer Cup competition in Seattle drew 2,221 entries from 540 breweries in 56 countries, a 42% growth in entries from 2004 which was the previous record holder.

The award for Mid-Sized Brewing Company went to Firestone Walker Brewing Co. of Paso Robles, CA, and brewmaster Matthew Brynildson who also won in 2004. The award for Large Brewing Company went to Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee and brewmaster Dr. David S. Ryder who also won in 2004. The award for Large Brewpub went to Russian River Brewing Co. of Santa Rosa, CA, and brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo who also won this award in 2004. The award for Small Brewpub went to Piece Brewing Co. of Chicago and brewmaster Jonathan Cutler. The award for Small Brewing Company went to by Brauerei Michael Plank of Laaber, Germany, and brewmaster Michael Plank.

20060411

The brewers of Tsingtao aren't letting the general malaise in beer sales water down their enthusiasm. They're following a good rollout in China of Tsingtao Pure Draft bottled beer with a push in the U.S. this summer.

Barton Beers and Monarch Import Co. are behind the move, buoyed by the fact that consumer acceptance in China has been so strong. Tsingtao Pure Draft is made in China using a "chill-filtered" brewing process for the non-pasteurized draft. The hops are imported, but the water is from springs in China's Laoshan Mountains.

The beer will be available in 11.2 oz. and 21.6 oz. bottles, with the ad campaign including all the usual paraphernalia -- banners, print ads, logo-branded merchandise.

20060405

That's the marketing theme for a new beer being produced in the Middle East's violence-plagued West Bank. The Taybeh Brewery, founded in 1994, plans to release this summer an Islam-compliant/kosher, non-alcoholic beer.

It is the brainchild of Arab brothers David and Nadim Khoury, intended to satisfy consumer demand under a stricter Islamic society expected with the ascendance to national rule of the Hamas party.

“There are opportunities, and, if you’re smart, you take them,” brewmaster Nadim Khoury told The Jewish Week. “It’s a good thing to do with the new government. We will sell alcoholic beer side by side with non-alcoholic.”

He described the new product as a “diversification” of Taybeh’s existing product line of three different beers, the only micro-brewed lagers in the region.

The beer takes its name from the Christian village that is home to the Khourys' microbrewery, set in an area of terraced farming slopes and olive trees. It doesn't hurt that in Arabic, Taybeh means “delicious.”

Taybeh sales have fallen about 80% since 2000 because of the dropoff in tourism to Israel and the Palestinian territories, and military crackdowns have hampered beer shipments to retailers.